Tagged: Carlos Quentin

Who was that huge guy with the bat that hit a home run in the eighth inning? He had Adam Dunn’s jersey on…

I’m gonna need to see eight more one-for-three or two-for-four games before Dunn earns back my trust. I think that’s a pretty reasonable number, and definitely achievable with one hundred one games left to play in the season. (Can you believe that? Already. Man.)

Mark Buehrle keeps turning in good outing after good outing and it’s making me very happy. Another seven solid innings out of the left-hander tonight as he improved his season record to six wins against four losses. I know we beat up on a team that came into the game having lost nine in a row, but a win is a win, right?

The offense was huge tonight. Dunn had a home run, Konerko had another homer (how many games in a row is that now?), Pierre, Vizquel, Ramirez, and Quentin all drove in runs as well. Everyone contributed in this game and that more than anything will help us win ballgames. It’s nice for one player to have a huge game that we can ride for nine innings (see: Carlos Quentin), but when the guys work as a team we’ll have a higher chance at a win. I know I probably sounded like the John Madden of amateur baseball analysts right there but I like to stress the importance of teamwork.

Didn’t I just say yesterday that this team would be a lot better if Dunn was the Dunn we thought we were getting when we signed him? The next game we get a 9-4 win. Keep it up, big guy. And you too, Rios! I see that two-for-five in the box score, don’t try to hide from me.

Jesse Crain and Will Ohman both appeared in tonight’s game. Crain pitched pretty well and despite allowing one run so did Ohman. Two points for Crain and, even though I don’t usually give out points to pitchers who surrender a run – it was a good game tonight so I’m feeling generous – a point for Ohman as well.

Young Graham Godfrey will be making his MLB debut for the A’s tomorrow against Edwin Jackson (4-5, 4.50). Let’s give him a debut he’ll never forget. In the bad way, though.

I’m sitting here listening to the Alter Bridge station on Pandora as I try to figure this game out.

Well, it looked good for a while there, right? I hate seeing games like this go to waste. The Twins beat the Indians earlier today which set us up for a chance to get even closer to first place. Then the Mariners spoil the sweep and keep us where we were.

I tweeted during the game (or I tried to but the app like… crashed or something. Timed out? I think it timed out. I’m still getting used to the jargon) that this is as locked-in as I have seen Carlos Quentin since his 2008 campaign. Seventeen homers? It’s Jose Bautista junior over here. I was in the extreme minority of Sox fans who wanted to hold on to Quentin this offseason and I think, now, we can all agree its a good thing we kept him. The kid is ridiculous.

Alex Rios was in the lineup for the first time in a few days tonight. He didn’t do anything special, as usual. He and Dunn have been huge disappointments so far but the last few weeks have shown that our offense can produce anyway. Imagine how good we’d be if those guys chipped in once every thirty at-bats or so. Until then we’ll rely on Lillibridge (which is fine) and Teahen (blech, threw up in my mouth a little bit).

I just wanted to point out how consistent Gordon Beckham has been this year. He struggled a bit towards the end of last season and he was one of the question marks going into 2011. We’ve seen some flashy hitting from Konerko, Ramirez, and Quentin, some surprising games from Lillibridge and Vizquel, and of course those disappointments I mentioned above. I feel like Beckham has kinda gotten lost in the middle. He drew two walks tonight and drove in a run in the seventh inning. Another guy who needs more recognition is Brent Morel. How about that kid, huh? This is some Crede-like defense he’s displaying and I’m always impressed by him. Let’s not forget these guys.

Floyd pitched a pretty good ballgame, but so did Jason Vargas. (Don’t you hate it when that happens?) Sergio Santos, however, was completely out of character. He just had no command of his pitches tonight and that’s why he got burned. No points for Sergio. No points for Crain either as he allowed the game-tying run to score. Matt Thornton and Brian Bruney will get points – two each for outings that made me feel like we had another chance at a win.

Well, we tried for the sweep but it just didn’t work out. Thankfully, just as these guys are getting hot, the Sox will welcome in one of the worst teams in the game right now, the Oakland Athletics. Trevor Cahill (6-3, 2.65) will do battle with Mark Buehrle (5-4, 3.95) tomorrow night at 7:10.

Alright, I’m gonna try writing tonight’s post on my iPad. I can’t edit the widget for bullpen points on here so I’ll have to do that later. Other than that (and typos I’ll have to fix), this should go smoothly.

Phil Humber is climbing into the upper tier of American League pitchers. Anyone who can out-duel Felix Hernandez is one heck of a pitcher. Even Humber’s ERA is better than Felix’s! 2.87 as of the conclusion of the game against Hernandez’s 3.29. I don’t want to get way ahead of things, but could there be a Cy Young award on the way to the South Side? If not, at least give the guy Comeback Player of the Year,

Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin are swinging hot bats lately. Konerko launched his fourteenth home run of the season in the second inning and Quentin hit his fifteenth (a frozen rope down the left field line) of the year in the third. Both are among the tops in the Majors in runs batted in (Konerko with 47 and Quentin with 42). And of course there was Omar Vizquel’s two-run triple in the third inning, a few batters before CQ’s laser. This wouldn’t be a proper recap of the offense without an Adam Dunn mention so here it is: he didn’t play. Mark Teahen manned first base tonight while Paulie filled the DH spot.

Here’s a thought to chew on… Dayan Viciedo is ripping triple-A apart right now. What if we call him up and put him at DH? I know we have Dunn and his $56 million dollar roster spot to deal with, but I say we convert him to the leagues highest payed pinch hitter. It could work, right?

Not much to say about the bullpen. These are the good games when I have nothing but praise for whoever comes out of the pen. Chris Sale was the lone reliever to make The Jog tonight, pitching one inning and some change, allowing one hit. Two points for Sale. See how nice that was? No Thornton explosions and Jesse Crain nail biters to report. Just a solid outing we can watch in peace.

The Sox will go for the sweep tomorrow as they’ll send Gavin Floyd (6-5, 3.84) to the mound to go against Jason Vargas (4-3, 3.96). Wait, no… Vargas is going against Floyd, right? Yeah. The way I write these always sounds funny to me. I’ll pay more attention from now on.

I fixed twelve typos in this post and if there are any I didn’t catch, point them out and… I dunno. You’d make a good editor some day.

Go Sox!!

EDIT: Turns out I can edit the widget I just have to go to WordPress in Safari. Perhaps I never need to leave my room again…?

John Danks is finally into the win column after a very frustrating (for both Sox fans and Danks) first two months of the year. This will have to go on my Games of the Year list just for the sake of Danks finally earning a win. If I’m wrong, let me know.

Adam Dunn continues to struggle. He struck out twice, climbing up to the eighty strikeout rung on the ladder, and left six men on base. Can you believe that? Six runners. Stranded. Absolutely ridiculous. I’m beginning to think there’s no hope for Dunn this season. If he were to heat up it should’ve been sooner than June. Quentin, Konerko, and Lillibridge are carrying this team right now. Speaking of Konerko, the captain hit his thirteenth home run of the season in the fourth inning. To go along with those thirteen homers, Konerko has driven in forty-six runs and is sporting a batting average of .314. Those are quality numbers

John Danks’ seven innings and some change earned him a standing ovation when he exited in in the eighth inning. Six strikeouts and one walk, Danks allowed just one unearned run in his best start of the 2011 season.

Jesse Crain entered the ballgame for the last two outs of the eighth inning and struck out a batter. Then Sergio Santos logged his eleventh save of the year as the Sox took game one of this series by a final score of three to one. Two points for Crain and Santos.

Well, if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll already know what I got from FedEx today. A bright, shiny iPad 2. It seems like forever ago that I ordered it online from Apple and it finally came today. I was able to watch the Sox game on the MLB At-Bat app and, even though it’s pretty much a portable Gameday, it was pretty to look at. I’m gonna really enjoy using this thing for the rest of the year and beyond. I’ll get some pictures up tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, we get a pretty good pitching matchup. Phil Humber (4-3, 3.06) will be opposed by Felix Hernandez (6-4, 3.04). Should be a good’n, guys!

It seems like forever since we’ve been at home. It’s good to be back, I gotta tell you. It’s also good to have The Duke of Buehrl on the mound.

Buehrle pitched seven innings and really only had one mistake – that three-run home run off the bat of Casper Wells in the top of the fifth inning. Other than that, this outing was arguably his best of the year.

Carlos Quentin, Brent Lillibridge, and Juan Pierre all hit home runs. (It’s 2:26 am as I’m writing this so I apologize for it not being as thorough as usual. I’ve been at the Home School Conference the past two days and I have to go again in four hours so my mind is in other places 😛 That and yesterday’s off-day threw me off a little bit.)

Two points for Bruney and Thornton, three points for Santos for reaching double-digits in saves.

Good way to start off a series! We were a little more dependent on the home run than I wanted us to be but, with a team like this, that will happen some times. As long as we win it doesn’t matter.

I like sharing funny things that Ed and DJ say and I got one from tonight. Miguel Cabrera reached first base on a single and started removing his equipment

DJ: He has a lot of equipment to take off. Shin guard, elbow guard…

Ed: Right Guard.

DJ: Right Guard? You’ve been getting a little closer to him than I have…

Hilarious. I love it.

Oh! And remember that thing that I teased a few weeks ago? That I said was coming and is insanely awesome? Well, it’ll be here on Monday. I’ll be sure to take some pictures for you to see. I’m so excited about it!

Game two of this series is tomorrow – Justin Verlander (5-3, 3.12) will take on Edwin Jackson (4-5, 4.63).

Alright. This game made absolutely no sense. How on earth can we beat the Red Sox and not the Blue Jays? Get someone in the Higher-Ups on the phone. I’m upset.

Jake Peavy was solid today. Seven strong innings, giving up three runs and striking out two, walking none. Peavy and Humber have both been huge this season and they’re the only starting pitchers keeping us in the division race. I can’t even put into words how much those guys mean to this team right now. If you remember, I had serious reservations about Peavy coming into this season. I wanted the team to take their time and not rush it. The situation was high risk, higher reward and we’re getting rewarded. You can’t handle an unknown injury much better than Kenny and Ozzie did.

The offense tonight was supplied by The Usual Suspects. A.J. Pierzynski plated two runs with a double in the top of the first inning, then Paul Konerko went deep for his eleventh home run of the season in the third inning. After Boston tied it up in the bottom of the third the White Sox jumped back ahead in the top of the sixth, scoring two runs on an Alexei Ramirez double and another two on Carlos Quentin’s single immediately after.

Dan Bernstein of 670 The Score’s afternoon show Tweeted this after Ramirez’s double: “Alexei is having a helluva year, in all phases of the game. In a disappointing season so far, he’s a bright spot.” I couldn’t agree more. His twenty-seven RBI’s are more than I thought he’d have two months into the season and he’s the second best shortstop in the game as of right now (Elvis Andrus of the Rangers edging him by a fraction). He’s also had some clutch hits over the past few weeks with tonight’s double at the top of the list. So glad we got this guy.

Peavy pitched the seventh inning then the bullpen took over. Jesse Crain pitched two thirds of an inning before Matt Thornton came on to face David Ortiz and eventually finish the remainder of the game. Thornton has been slowly earning back my confidence. It used to be that whenever I heard he was warming up in the bullpen I’d know that we were in for a fun inning but he’s becoming the old Thornton once again. I like it. Because of this huge win after such a terrible series in Canada, Crain and Thornton get three points for keeping their cleats on the necks of the Red Sox.

I’m excited that we were able to get a win against such a good team. Feels nice to beat a really hot ballclub like this. Gavin Floyd (5-5, 3.69) probably won’t pitch tomorrow after his outing in Toronto. I remember Ed and DJ saying something about who was pitching for the Sox tomorrow but I can’t remember who. If it’s Floyd, forget I said any of this. Whoever it is will be facing Alfredo Aceves (2-0, 2.22) of the Red Sox.

One positive to take from tonight: Adam Dunn was walked in all four of his plate appearances. While that doesn’t seem like much it is a HUUUUGE adjustment. Watching the Gameday tonight I saw that he wasn’t swinging as much as he usually does and that shows me that he’s trying really hard to turn his season around. Being dropped down to the seven spot in the lineup will probably take some pressure of as well. The look on his face over the past week has been that of a player who is absolutely lost at home plate. I’m proud of the Donkey for being more patient tonight.

There’s a song that the little kids at my church sing that goes like this: “Have patience, have patience, don’t be in such a hurry. When you get impatient, you only start to worry.” I think Adam needs to learn this song and keep singing it to himself.

Buehrle pitched very well tonight but, much like Gavin Floyd on Sunday, he just couldn’t get any run support. Seven innings, three earned runs, three strikeouts, and two walks. A typical Mark Buehrle outing.

Alexei Ramirez and Carlos Quentin had one RBI each, Ramirez brought home Juan Pierre on a sacrifice fly in the third inning and Quentin drove in Adam Dunn on a walk in the fifth inning.

What made all of our hearts skip, though, was what happened in the third inning. Alex Rios’ relay throw to second base hopped up and hit Gordon Beckham square in the eye and Beckham went down immediately. His eye was swelling up after he left the field and X-rays have been done to check for fractures. Apparently the brunt of the ball hit the bone just below the eye and no real damage was done to the eyeball itself. Hopefully Beck is alright and will be able to come back soon. I’ll be praying for a speedy recovery to this scary accident.

Tony Pena pitched an inning of relief and allowed one run so I’m not really sure what to do about it. The Sox were down anyway when he came in to the game… so should I give him one point? None? Let me know what you think.

Edwin Jackson (4-5, 4.26) will go for the Sox tomorrow and Carlos Villanueva (2-0, 1.53) will deal for the Blue Jays.